News & Updates

A University of Michigan research project looked at the effects of divorce on women's health insurance rates and coverage and found that women are less likely to be insured following a divorce. It is estimated that 115,000 women lose health insurance coverage following a divorce and that 65,000 women become uninsured in the months following the divorce.

Professor Rebecca Aviel, member of the Steering Committee to the Honoring Families Initiative, has won the third annual Fred C. Zacharias Memorial Prize for Scholarship in Professional Responsibility for her article, “The Boundary Claim’s Caveat: Lawyers and Confidentiality Exceptionalism,” which was published in the Tulane Law Review.

Congratulations to Professor Howard Markman, member of the Honoring Families Initiative Advisory Committee, for receiving the University of Denver's John Evans Professorship Award.

Divorce and resolution of child custody issues take a toll. They take a toll on families, they take a toll on the courts and they take a toll on a variety of other impacted communities, and it's not clear that the current system is working. Which is why we’re formally launching our Honoring Families Initiative. Aligned with the greater mission of IAALS, Honoring Families is dedicated to advancing empirically informed models to ensure greater accessibility, efficiency, and fairness in divorce and child custody matters.

Because the exhausting and emotional impact of divorce extends often extends into the work environment, the Huffington Post suggests businesses should actively take a part to improve how courts handle divorce and custody issues. The Huffington Post relies on IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis' article, "It's Just Good Business: The Case for Supporting Reform in Divorce Court," in which she states that if the family court system "can be improved -- such that they cost less money, take less time, and are less adversarial and inflamed -- not only will employees benefit, but so will their employers.

A Nationwide study reports that many married couples are opting for long-term separation because they cannot afford to divorce - especially if there are children involved. The study found that couples who remain separated are more disadvantaged than those who end up divorcing. In addition, those who separated without divorcing also tended to have more children than those who divorced.

Justice Paul J. De Muniz was elected to the Oregon Supreme Court in 2000 and served as the court's Chief Justice and administrative head of the Oregon Judicial Department from January 2006 to May 2012. As we launch IAALS Online, he joins three other former Chief Justices in the conversation about IAALS and its initiatives by discussing the work of our Honoring Families Initiative. "Like with other parts of our court systems, now is the time to ask hard questions about the structure, operation, tradition, and culture of our family courts. We could begin by asking whether our traditional adversarial model actually meets the needs of divorcing and separating families. Is it not time to reengineer our family courts in ways that are less adversarial, that encourage continued parental involvement with their children, and that provide for alternative forums and processes outside the court system for resolving parenting issues in a more consensual manner?"

Ruth Bettelheim, a marriage and family therapist, wrote in the New York Times that children’s voices are being ignored or suppressed in custody discussions and agreements. She argues that a custody arrangement generally governs the schedule of children without change until they turn 18, despite the fact that the needs of children change as they get older.

Jeanne Teleia, a marriage and family therapist, told the North Hawaii News that conflict in divorce is damaging to children, but that help is available to mitigate the worst and most prevalent side effects. She encourages parents to commit to a child-centered divorce where parents put their anger aside, resulting in less stress and energy spent, fewer expenses, and less damage inflicted upon the children.

As part of the Atlantic's "America the Fixable" series, IAALS Executive Director Rebecca Love Kourlis laid out the challenges currently facing the civil justice system—and a five-step plan to address them.